


"If You Say So."

by Neon_Star



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Also Blood, Angst, Bets, Disease, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, Illness, Lots of Angst, Lots of that, M/M, Sickness, Spoilers, You Have Been Warned, bets on love, cursing, hanahaki syndrome, miu's vocabulary, most of these characters are like brief mentions rip, oh golly the spoilerinos, rip the spoilerinos are real, spoilers up to chapter 3, taggin' as i goooo, various other illness-related mentions, whatever you wanna call it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-17 12:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12365763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neon_Star/pseuds/Neon_Star
Summary: In which Kaito resolves to clear Shuichi of his disease by making him fall in love with him.





	1. "Alrightie Then, How About a Bet?"

Saihara Shuichi leaned over the trashcan in his room and coughed as hard as he could.

There was already a bluebell in there. And a couple forget-me-nots. Oh. And there’s a snowdrop, too.

..This was gross.

When no more colourful petals came out, Shuichi sat back, shivering. His throat felt like it was on fire, and his chest was even worse. But the pain didn’t really matter; honestly, the worst part was just the fact that he couldn’t do anything about it.

The detective picked himself up like a ragdoll, almost fearing to breathe on the off-chance that he’d find another damn flower crawling up his windpipe. It hurt. A lot. Especially since his throat was still raw from that one time he had coughed up an entire rose, thorns and all.

..That was the first time he had coughed up a flower, actually. Right. That was..the night she had died.

There wasn’t a way around this, Shuichi knew; Kaede was already gone, and there was no way that sick..thing..of a bear would let him get the surgery. He had considered asking Kirumi for advice  _ while she was still here _ \- that wretched  _ bear _ \- but she had been way, way too busy, and..

..And then there was Kaito.

Shuichi didn’t want to talk to him about this, even though he probably had his suspicions already. Logically speaking, Kaito was the best person to get him through this situation, but he didn’t want to tell him something like this. Shuichi was fairly sure that he was dead weight to his ‘classmate’ as it was, anywa-

Di- di- din- di- ding

That’ll be him now, then.

“Coming,” Shuichi called, voice panickingly hoarse as he answered the door. Kaito was mid-“Hey, what’s up, bro?” when his face fell in concern.

“Hey, Shuichi, are you okay? There’s blood all over your face.”

Instantly, it was like the blue-haired student’s veins had ran cold. He’d forgotten to wipe off the blood- how could he be so stupid?! Without thinking, Shuichi slammed the door shut and curled up on the floor, shoving his face into his knees. It wasn’t even particularly cold, but he could hear his teeth chattering with how much he was shaking.

There stood a few seconds of Shuichi desperately praying to any deities who happened to be listening for Kaito to go away, and they were punctuated by two knocks on his door. His prayers were unanswered. Shuichi was close to crying.

“L-leave me alone..I-I’m just a bit sick, I don't want you to catch it. It’s nothing.”

“That’s a lie and we both know it.”

A pause.

“Can I come in?”

 

Slowly and reluctantly, Shuichi rose once again to his feet, unlocking the door with a quiet ‘click’. On the other side stood a worried-looking Kaito, and Shuichi couldn’t bare to see his best friend - was that even the right word? It wasn’t like there was anyone else who could be described as such here, so probably - like this over a condition of the detective’s own which couldn’t even be fixed. Still, Shuichi stepped out of the way of the door, and it took Kaito all of about a second to see the bloodied flower-petals in his friend’s bin.

Shuichi almost fell to sit on his bed, sniffling and crying into his hands. Kaito shut the door behind him and sat next to him, gently rubbing his back without a word for what must have been minutes but felt like hours.

“Hanahaki, huh?” The astronaut-trainee spoke up, finally. Shuichi gave a shaky nod. “Who is it?”

“ _ Was _ ,” Shuichi corrected, and Kaito squeezed the smaller’s shoulder in his hand in an attempt to comfort him. “K..Kaede. It was Kaede. A-and now she’s go-gone, I..I..”

“Shh. It’ll be alright,” Kaito murmured, and even if it really was comforting, Shuichi couldn’t stop crying. Just as he was thinking about not telling Kaito, too. This was the worst. Literally the worst thing that could happen. Not even  _ he _ could make this one any bette-

“It’ll go away if you stop crushing on her, right? So, why don’t you fall in love with me instead?”

Shuichi looked up at Kaito for a moment and stared at him. Okay, he was completely serious.

“What?”

“I meant what I said. Fall in love with me instead.”

“Kaito, I appreciate what you’re saying, but I don’t think love works that wa-”

“Alrightie then, how about a bet?” Kaito had that grin on his face again. That confident one which always told Shuichi that it would all be okay; in this case, though, he couldn’t help but be worried. “If I can’t make you fall in love with me in one week, I’ll pay for the surgery when we get outta here. If I can, then you have to go on a date with me.”

“W-wait, isn’t that expensi-”

“I don’t plan on failing, Shuichi. And even if I somehow do, you’re my sidekick. I can’t have you dying on me if it’s something I can fix.”

It was a strange warmth that filled the detective’s chest when he said that, and the shorter of the two couldn’t help but return a smile. “Alright. If you say so.”

Shuichi felt like he would have a lot to owe Kaito by the time they escaped this place.


	2. ‘..For..Kaito..?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aah, wow!! I'm really happy!! So many people left kudos and comments, oh my gosh ;w; You all totally made my day!! Thank you!!  
> After all that, I feel kinda bad about writing such a short chapter. But! Not to worry, because the story's going to spice up soon enough!!

Training had gone a little differently that night. Even Kaito wasn’t tough enough to make his sidekick do fifty press-ups in that condition, so they had sat and talked instead, and at some point they must have passed out, because when Shuichi opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Kaito’s sleeping face. 

He jolted in surprise, practically leaping to his feet in an over-exaggerated motion which reminded him, the moment he found his senses, of some over-the-top reaction from a gag-anime. It was only the sound of the monitor in his room turning itself off that he realised it had even been on in the first place.

Ah, yes. Reality.

The memories of the previous night came flooding back as the sound of Kaito yawning and dragging himself into consciousness filled Shuichi’s ears. He pulled himself into a sitting position, ran a hand through his hair, seemed to take a moment to remember his surroundings, and then turned to the other with that confident grin of his. “Mornin’. You didn’t cough up anything in the night, did you?”

“Actually, now that you mention it..no, I didn’t.” Shuichi was surprised at that himself. It wasn’t uncommon for him to awaken at some ungodly hour to spit up some foul-tasting combination of greenery. Upon hearing that, Kaito’s grin somehow managed to grow even wider.

“Falling for me already, I see,” he joked, as he stood up with a stretch. Shuichi gave a very slight laugh, though he wondered how true that statement was. No..no, that was ridiculous. There was no way that after one night he would already have gotten over Kaede. It was probably just coincidence, even if part of him kind of did hope that it wasn’t.

“Yeah, maybe,” Shuichi joked back nonetheless, glancing to the door of his bathroom. “We should get ready and such. I’ll..see you in the dining-hall?”

“Yeah! Count on it!” Kaito grinned, and with that and a thumbs-up, he took his leave back to his own room.

* * *

The moment of joy didn’t last long.

It took precisely the amount of time Shuichi needed to shower and change into his uniform for him to start spitting up spiderwort into the sink.

The detective turned the tap and watched the water fill up with traces of indigo and the swirling pink that dyed it as it slipped down the drain, lifting the entire plug so that the petals could go right along with the blood. It was horrible to look at: ‘painful’ couldn’t even begin to describe it, physically or emotionally.

Shuichi sighed at himself. He grabbed the nearest towel and made a point of wiping his face this time, catching himself in the mirror. 

_ ‘I look like crap.’ _

That kind of thought wasn’t even an insult: it was true. It was as if the colour had drained from his face. He was sure that if he tried to talk, that would be just as bad, too.

With a shake of his head, Shuichi replaced the towel on its holder and left the dormitory to head for the school. Right. Even if he had to move like clockwork, he had to do _something_. He couldn't mope around and he couldn’t let this get him down; not as long as Kaito was smiling at him like that. He had to do it for Kaito.

_ ‘..For..Kaito..? _

_ '.... _

_ 'Yeah..yeah, for Kaito.' _


	3. "I Guess I'm Pretty Out of It."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's always lovely to see more people reading! It really is a wonderful feeling as a writer to know that one's work has reached so many!  
> Thank you, everyone!! I'm sorry this is getting off to such a slow start, ahahah. I'll try and keep updates a daily thing - or thereabouts - though!!

“Don’t screw around! You just decided that on your own!”

“What do you mean? Atua said I could.”

“Yeah, you degenerate! We have Atua on our side!”

“This is all to keep the peace at the academy.”

“Fuckin’ cunts, you’re already going too fast! It’s time to pull the fuck out!”

Walking in on a heated debate is always a fun activity, as Shuichi discovered so quickly that morning. The group seemed to have split into two, with one party on either side of the dining-hall, and the detective had never had such a feeling of something being such a bad idea before that moment.

“Kaito, what’s happening?” He asked, slotting himself in next to the astronaut.

“These guys,” Kaito replied with a scowl - clearly, he was worked-up, even if one only judged by the crease in his brow at the clench of his fist - “they blocked the manhole to the hidden passageway!”

“What? The manhole?” Shuichi was struggling to process this, and the early hours weren’t helping matters. “Why..?”

“Because! It will only remind us of our avarice to escape!” Angie replied, in a way which struck the blue-haired teenager as creepily cheerful, all things considered. “Sooo, it’s protecting us! So that something like Kaede’s case never happens again!”

Shuichi couldn’t tell if it was bile or some particularly rotten-tasting flower, but he was sure that if he tried to speak, whatever sound came out would be equally horrible either way. It was at times like this that he wished for his hat back, averting eye-contact and turning his gaze to the floor. Kaito must have picked up on this, because he seemed to become even more fired up.

“All you’re doing is whatever you damn well want!” He near-shouted, matching his words to a fluid motion of ‘protecting’ Shuichi with his body. The latter himself couldn’t tell whether he liked or disliked it: he..didn’t want to be dead weight.

_Was_ he dead weight..?

Oh no.

Oh, no.

Shuichi felt like he was going to choke. It was definitely time to go.

And thus, with a mutter of only “sorry, there’s something I urgently need to check on,” Shuichi turned and sprinted from the dining-hall.

* * *

 

Of course it was Kaito who found him in the end, and it had taken him a solid ten minutes to find the detective pale-faced, shaking and washing bits of blood and petals down the sink in an excruciatingly zombie-like fashion in the first-floor bathroom.

“It’s a first, but you’re not looking so hot.” He commented from the doorframe, and Shuichi would probably have jumped if he had the energy left to do so.

“Ah..yeah. Sorry, I just..I guess I’m pretty out of it.”

“No kidding you’re ‘pretty out of it’,” Kaito frowned, guessing what had happened after he had left, “you look like you just witnessed someone punch a baby.” He paused, then folded his arms. “C’mon, out with it. You could’ve ran away for only one reason, huh?”

“Perceptive as ever.” Shuichi replied in a mumble pushed through a forced smile, and Kaito wasn’t having any of it. “But, it’s fine. There isn’t a proble-”

“There’s no way there isn’t a problem! Talking about Kaede like that was completely uncalled for!”

“She doesn’t know, so it’s fi-”

“Even if that!”

Shuichi gave a trace of awkward laughter, but even if his reasonable side didn’t, he couldn’t help but agree with Kaito on some level. The astronaut sighed, frowning at the wall. “Shuichi!” He declared, turning suddenly to face the other, “We have things we must attend to!”

“We do?”

“Of course we do! I wouldn’t say we did if we didn’t!”

“That’s true, but-”

“No ‘but’s! Or, for that matter, any ‘if’s or ‘and’s!”

* * *

 

Shuichi wasn’t particularly keen on yogurt, but it was tolerable with honey, and at a toss-up between it or extremely-soggy cereal, it was the lesser of two evils that wouldn’t murder his trachea.

“Thanks for your concern, but did we really have to come back here?” The detective asked. Kaito’s attention was drew with a moment of pause from his sandwich - bacon? Maybe sausages? Shuichi couldn’t tell.

“Of course we did,” the astronaut answered, as if the question he had just been asked was do we breathe in our sleep?’, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I can’t have my sidekick missing out on a meal because someone decided that she could say whatever she wanted.”

“Are you sure you aren’t just hungry too?”

“..And that.”


	4. "Maybe I Really Am Already in Love."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'I'll try to keep updates daily', I say, and then don't update the next day. Irony, amirite?  
> Anyway, this chapter's a little longer than before, so I hope that makes up for the delay at least a little!  
> Once again, thank you all for reading!! c:

It took five rings of the doorbell for Kaito to leave his room, and when he did, Shuichi and Maki were greeted by a grey face peering around the door. “Hey, guys. I’m, uh, not feeling so hot.”

“Clearly,” Maki replied. She folded her arms and stared through the crack with a gaze which Shuichi thought only Kaito could find unintimidating.

“Are you okay, Kaito?” He asked, brows furrowed to an expression of concern. Kaito glanced to the side, then back to the duo.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just gotta rest. Sorry, my bad. You’re gonna have to do training without me. Besides, shouldn’t we be changing the schedule anyway? Since going out at night is apparently against the rules now.”

“It’s fine if you’re not feeling well, but we aren’t rescheduling for them,” the brunette said. She was serious, if Shuichi had indeed caught the microscopic narrowing of her gaze. Kaito looked like a smile was on his lips, and he ran a hand through his hair.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, guys. I’ll..I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Make sure you get some rest.”

* * *

 

That could definitely have gone better.

Shuichi was exhausted when he stepped into the dormitory that night, the taste of the harebell he had been forced to swallow still plaguing his tongue. It wasn’t pleasant, but when you have no choice, what must be done must be done when you see a lifesize wax effigy of your dead crush.

Raising his key to its lock, the detective held a moment of pause. It just felt wrong to go straight to bed. His gaze flickered to the upstairs, and slowly, Shuichi slipped the key back into his pocket and made his way up the stairs to the second floor of the dorms. The pixelated likeness of Kaito hung above the door before him, and as he lifted a hand to the intercom, it occurred to him that he probably would have just left Kaito to himself no more than a week ago.

“Maybe I really am already in love.” Shuichi murmured to himself, and the smile that the sentence brought to his lips couldn’t help but surprise him. Footsteps on the other side of the door cut off his train of thought, and when it pushed open a crack, Kaito stood behind it. Shuichi could tell instantly by the grey circles around his eyes that he hadn’t slept a wink in the hour or so since he had left him.

“Hey, Kaito,” Shuichi greeted, somewhat sheepishly as he realised that he did this mostly without thinking, “is everything okay? I didn’t want to just leave you, so I came to check up..”

“Yeah. ‘Course-” cough. “‘Course I’m okay. You don’t gotta worry about me.” Kaito gave a thumbs-up, but the shorter of the two couldn’t say he was convinced.

“Are you sure? You seemed really under the weather before-”

“Like I said, no need to worry! Afterall, I’m Momota Kaito! Luminary of the Stars! I couldn’t possibly be in any danger, especially when I have a sidekick to protect!”

Shuichi raised a brow, but he could tell this wasn’t getting anywhere. Still: it would feel wrong just to go. “Can that sidekick come in then? Y’know, just to prove that you’re okay?”

Kaito’s expression fell for a fraction of a second, but he opened the door the moment he collected himself. “You weren’t expecting anything exciting, though, were you?”

“No, I just thought I should repay the favour by spending the night with you.” It was only after the words left his mouth that Shuichi realised the implications of what he had just said, and he swiftly averted his gaze, a light pink colour dusting his cheeks. “I mean- if you’re comfortable with me staying, that is-”

“Whoa. You really are falling for my charms already, huh, flower-boy?” The astronaut laughed, closing the door and settling onto his bed after Shuichi stepped into the room. The place was covered in various space-related knick-knacks: there was a planetarium-projection decorating the ceiling from a compact-looking device settled on the table, a half-done puzzle consisting of milk-white pieces lay on the floor next to a discarded shirt, and on the shelf sat a model of a moon-buggy which Shuichi remembered giving Kaito himself. All-in-all, the room was definitely befitting of its owner, and speaking of whom, the detective joined him on the bed.

“Heh, maybe.” Shuichi chuckled a little as he sat down, and Kaito seemed to have the slightest flash of mischievousness. This was proven correct very quickly by him taking Shuichi by the arm and pulling him into a lying position, only to essentially curl his body around the other student.

“K-Kaito?!”

“What?”

“This is-”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re warm.”

“You feel  _ boiling _ .”

“We can use eachother as very big hot water-bottles, then. Go to sleep. I’m tired.”

After that, even if he was worried, Shuichi still found himself drifting off with a smile on his face that night.

* * *

 

“Hey, we should be-..should I, uhm, leave?”

“M-Maki!”

The brunette standing in the doorframe had both Kaito and Shuichi scrambling out of the night’s intertwined position to sit up as if someone had just tipped freezing water on them. “How did you-”

“You never lock your door, Kaito,” Maki cut the astronaut off, “so it’s easy to get in. Actually, it looked half-open already, so I was worried something had happened. Seems I had no reason to be concerned, though.” She looked at Shuichi for a brief second with a tint of fire and ice in her gaze, but it was so quick that he wondered if it had even happened at all.

“Oh. Right.” Kaito nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry to have worried you. My bad.”

“It’s fine, but get ready quickly, okay?” The assassin said, adjusting the bow on her uniform as she spoke. “Let’s just go already. If we don’t hurry, Angie will start the ritual.”

“Yeah. You’re right,” Shuichi nodded. He was close enough to his senses to get to his feet, though it would be an overstatement to say that he had completely recovered from such an awakening, judging by the tint of red still decorating his face. “We’ll be right there.”

“You better be.”

* * *

 

_ ‘.... _

_ ‘But, in the end, what we saw there..was much worse than anything any of us could have imagined. _

_ ‘Instead of bringing one more back to us, Angie Yonaga.. _

_ ‘..had died.’ _


End file.
